- Cocaine Blamed In Norry Death
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- By the Press Enterprise staff
- 10-5-2
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- NORTHUMBERLAND -- A Northumberland
man whose body was found in the woods here in August died because of cocaine,
police said in a release Friday.
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- While Northumberland County Coroner James Kelley would
not qualify the death as an overdose, the press release listed Todd Sees'
cause of death as "cocaine toxicity."
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- Police said the manner of death is accidental.
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- Kelley said he could not release the amount of cocaine
in Sees' blood because his death was still under investigation.
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- Point Township police could not be contacted Friday for
further comment about what they were investigating.
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- The family of Sees, 39, reported him missing on Aug.
4. Searchers found his body in the evening of the next day.
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- In the past month, while police were waiting for the
results of toxicology tests, a group of UFO Web sites published anonymous
reports that a UFO may have been involved in the death. Officials called
the reports "ridiculous."
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- Kelley, along with Point Township Police Chief Gary Steffen
and Sgt. Seth Cotner, met with the Sees family Thursday night to inform
them of the toxicology results, police said.
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- ©Press Enterprise, Inc.
- http://www.pressenterpriseonline.com/
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- ___
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- NORTHUMBERLAND, Pa. -- The
unexplained death of a man near here has become fodder for UFO enthusiasts,
who have made it into a tale of alien attack and spread it around the world
via the Internet.
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- The bizarre interest in the death of Todd Sees has aggravated
investigators trying to determine the cause of his death, who also worry
the tales will deepen the anguish the Sees family is feeling.
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- Sees, 39, a Little League coach and father of two, was
found dead in the woods near here in August.
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- The anonymous Internet postings blame his death on a
UFO.
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- Officials dismiss the stories as ridiculous. But they
don't yet know how or why he died, and they have no way of preventing story-tellers
from filling that vacuum with speculation.
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- Searchers found the body of Sees about 150 yards from
his Northumberland home along Route 147 in a heavily wooded area Aug. 5.
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- He had taken out his all-terrain vehicle the day before,
planning to track deer. After a 30-hour search by more than 250 people,
his family found his body.
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- An autopsy the next day failed to establish a cause of
death, said Northumberland County Coroner James Kelley.
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- A toxicology report, which could detect the presence
of drugs, poisons or other substances at the microscopic level, is expected
by mid-October, he said.
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- But even before August was over, some Web sites began
featuring anonymous tales that Sees had died in an encounter with extraterrestrials.
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- Here's what they say:
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- A farmer who did not give his name said he saw a round
disk over Montour Ridge. It moved quickly, stopped and shot a light to
the ground. The farmer then saw a man being pulled up the light head first
into the bottom of the craft.
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- Seconds later, the disk flew away.
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- When searchers found the man's body, some of these anonymous
reports say, it was partially clothed and had a look of horror on its face.
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- Some claim federal agents soon showed up to take over
the investigation and didn't let the family see Sees' emaciated body.
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- 'Ridiculous'
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- "They're so ridiculous and far-fetched," said
the investigating officer, Sgt. Seth Cotner of the Point Township Police.
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- Cotner said he's seen a number of the Internet stories,
and his department has taken "several" calls from UFO organizations.
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- None of the reports he has read was accurate, Cotner
said. No police report on Sees' death has yet been issued.
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- Cotner said police "all certainly hope" the
toxicology report will clear up the mystery of Sees' death.
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- There are no federal agencies involved in the investigation,
he added.
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- Linda Vizi, a spokeswoman for the FBI, said she had not
heard of the case. "But I know that Congress does not mandate us to
investigate UFOs," Vizi said.
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- 'Very traumatic'
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- Kelley, the coroner, said he saw the body, and the Internet
reports he had read were inaccurate.
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- He said he couldn't go into the details, since the case
is still under investigation.
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- The family had been asked not to open the casket when
they received Sees' remains, he said.
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- "Letting them see it would have been very traumatic
for them," Kelley said.
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- Todd Sees' family declined comment through relative Traci
Sees.
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- The naked eye examination of the body during the autopsy
turned up no evidence of trauma, heart attack or any other obvious cause
of death, Kelley said.
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- "We're still following every possible avenue,"
he said, including the possibility of a snakebite or bee sting. But there
was no visible sign of either of those, he said.
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- UFO groups have contacted Kelley looking for information.
But since the investigation is still under way, he said he cannot get into
details.
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- "Everyone's entitled to their own beliefs, I guess,"
Kelley said about the groups. "I just hope that nothing the family
sees adds to what they're already going through."
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- 'I want the facts out'
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- To Peter Davenport, it's not about belief, it's about
facts. Davenport is director of the National UFO Reporting Center, the
Web site on which the first Sees reports appeared.
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- "I want the facts out," Davenport said.
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- He was not comfortable saying there was UFO involvement
in Todd Sees' death. More facts must be gathered, he said.
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- Davenport said he became interested in the case when
he received the first report of a UFO sighting Aug. 18, before he knew
Sees had died.
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- He said in that anonymous report someone stated that
a farmer and three fishermen had seen a flying disk.
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- It wasn't until the end of the month, when another person
said they had seen a person drawn up into the disk, that Davenport said
he got interested.
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- He said he spoke briefly with Kelley and Point Township
police, but they stopped returning his calls.
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- Davenport's site, at www.nuforc.org/index.html, posts
five to 25 reports of UFO sightings per day, he said.
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- Those that make it to the site are only those that "warrant
attention," he said.
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- Davenport said he screens out those that are obvious
hoaxes.
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- To link to UFO reports from Davenport's site, go to:
http://www.nuforc.org/webreports.html
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- Peter Kendron's beat covers northern Columbia County
and Bloomsburg University. Call him at 387-1234, ext. 1312, or e-mail him
at pete.k@pe-online.com.
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- ©Press Enterprise, Inc.
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